Transcription of READINGS FROM THE SLAVE NARRATIVES
1 InTIME/Unchained MemoriesCMYK TIME ImagingREADINGS FROM THE SLAVE NARRATIVESWhat was it like to be enslaved in the United States? More than 2,000 African Americans answered that question in interviews conducted during the 1930s. Their voices come to life inside thepages of this magazine and in the extraordinary new documentary Unchained Memories: READINGS from the SLAVE Monday, February 10, 2003, at 8 MemoriesCMYK TIME Imagingcan constitute a state. I think wemust get rid of slavery or we mustget rid of freedom. Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet, 1856 Democratic liberty exists solelybecause we have slaves .. freedomis not possible without slavery.
2 Richmond Enquirer,1856 Whenever I hear anyone arguingfor slavery, I feel a strong impulse tosee it tried on him personally. President Abraham Lincoln, 1865 I had crossed the line. I was free;but there was no one to welcomeme to the land of freedom. I was astranger in a strange land. Harriet Tubman, who escaped from slavery in 1849 and went on to lead 300 slaves to freedom If I had my life to live over, I woulddie fighting rather than be a slaveagain. Robert Falls, former SLAVE , in WPAinterview conducted in the 1930s 12,000,000 Approximatenumber of Africans shipped acrossthe Atlantic Ocean between 1450and 1850, primarily to colonies inNorth America, South America andthe West ,953,760 Total number ofenslaved people in the southernstates in number of enslaved peoplein the free states of the Northas of ,000 Number of ex-slavesstill alive in the late ,300Ex-slaves interviewed inthe 1930s for the SLAVE Narrativesnow housed at Library of Congress.
3 SLAVERYBYTHENUMBERSHUMAN CARGO: Flyerslike this one, distributedin Charleston, South Carolina in 1769, advertised the sale ofenslaved Africa to America:Enslaved Africans Countries of Origin(1619-1865) No man can put a chain around theankle of his fellow man without atlast finding the other end fastenedabout his own neck. Frederick Douglass, liberated slaveand civil rights activist, 1883 I do not see how a barbarous com-munity and a civilized communityA NATION DIVIDED: This 1856 mapshows the division between SLAVE and freestates. The numbers in white indicate the per-centage of families in each southern state thatowned slaves.
4 Under the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the question of slaveryin the territories was supposed to be decided by a vote of settlers. But insteadof providing a peaceful solution, the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to fierce andbloody conflict, propelling the toward civil OF CONGRESSAMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETYinTIME/Unchained MemoriesCMYK TIME ImagingDDuring the Great Depressionof the 1930s, the FederalGovernment came up witha creative new way to putunemployed writers backto work. Armed with taperecorders and lists of questions, mem-bers of the Federal Writers Project setout to record the experiences andopinions of everyday people.
5 As partof this project, thousands of formerslaves in 17 states were result of these oral history inter-views was the SLAVE Narrative Col-lection, an extraordinary set of 2,300autobiographical documents nowhoused at the Library of interviews, all of which wereconducted between 1936 and 1938,gave former slaves an unparalleledchance to share their memories oflife in bondage. For contemporaryAmericans, these NARRATIVES provide ariveting chronicle of what it was liketo be enslaved in the United the Language of the SLAVE NarrativesIn his instructions to interviewers, thedirector of the Federal Writers Projectnoted that details of the interviewshould be reported as accurately aspossible in the language of the originalstatements.
6 In response, the inter-viewers most of whom were white made an effort to capture in writingthe speech patterns of the men andwomen with whom they spoke. (Someinterviewers tape-recorded the con-versations, while many relied solelyon written notes.) In some cases, theresulting transcripts contain clear exaggerations or racist notions ofAfrican Americans. As one historianhas noted, the transcripts are a mix of accuracy and fantasy, of sensitivityand stereotype, of empathy and racism. When reading or listening to thenarratives, it is important to rememberthe process by which the interviewees words were recorded on paper.
7 It isalso important to remember the his-torical context in which the narrativeswere produced. Certain words thatthe former slaves used may be offen-sive or disturbing. But the narrativesare a reflection of the time and place atwhich they were created. As such, theyilluminate a world that is importantfor all Americans to explore. 3 The SLAVE NARRATIVES on the WebWHATARETHESLAVENARRATIVES?More than 2,000slave NARRATIVES along with 500 photos are available online at theLibrary of Congress Born in Slavery website Formore information about the new HBO documentary Unchained Memories: READINGS from the SLAVE NARRATIVES ,visit Andfor teaching materials and additional resources related to the SLAVE NARRATIVES , go to CONDITIONS: Devices such asthis one were used to restrain SLAVERY TO FREEDOM.
8 This rare photograph shows a group of ex-slaves in Cumberland Landing, Virginia in 1862, the year after the Civil War OF CONGRESS (2)WILBERFORCE HOUSE MUSEUM, KINGSTON UPON HULL CITY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY None of us was allowed to see a book or try to learn. Mush and BeansI remember quite well howthose poor little children usedto have to eat. They werefed inboxes and troughs, under the were fed cornmeal mush andbeans. When this was poured intotheir box, they would gather aroundit the same as we see pigs, horses andcattle gather around troughs today. Octavia George, OklahomaStudying the Spelling BookNone of us was lowed to seea book or try to learn.
9 Dey saywe git smarter den dey was if welearn anything, but we slips aroundand gits hold of dat Webster s oldblue-back speller and we hides it tilway in de night and den we lights alittle pine torch and studies datspellin book. We learn it, too. Jenny Proctor, TexasENSLAVED PEOPLE STARTED WORKING ATa very early age: many began theirlabors in the master s house, wherethey served as playmates for whitechildren. Despite this closeness,black and white children could notattend school together. In fact, inmost states it was against the lawfor slaves to be New Master Was Only TwoMy earliest recollection is theday my old boss presented meto his son, Joe, as his property.
10 I wasabout five years old and my newmaster was only two .. No, sir, Inever went into books. I used tohandle a big dictionary three timesa day, but it was only to put it on achair so my young master could situp higher at the table. I never wentto school. I learned to talk prettygood by associating with my mastersin their big house. Martin Jackson, TexasUNCHAINEDinTIME/Unchained MemoriesCMYKTIME Imaging4 Born in 1847 in Victoria County, Texas,MARTIN JACKSONwas 90 when this1937 photo was taken. PLANTATION LIFE: This group ofslaves, photographed in 1862,worked on Smith s Plantation inBeaufort, South Carolina. JENNY PROCTOR began working in thecotton fields when she was 10.
